So it's come to this...

*Huh. I was kind of hoping to find a way around this, but it seems I'm going to have to go without internet access until late Wednesday. So, obviously, this site can't be updated until then. I'm just going to push my regular features up a day, and I'll post again Wednesday evening, EST.

LAST WEEK'S REVIEWS:

Punisher War Journal #4

Alan Moore’s Exit Interview

random things I found

*Ok - now, obviously it's too early for Diamond's official list to be out, so I'm not 100% sure all this stuff will actually show, but there's a good chance.

THIS WEEK IN ME ME ME!

The Comics Journal #281: It's the Journal's annual Best of Last Year gala thingy, which means a wide variety of people show up and yap about all the lovely things that happened. I am one of the yappers, and I will yap in a manner different from which I did the other times I yapped on the same topic. What a time! Also: interviews with Yoshihiro Tatsumi and Melinda Gebbie, among others whose names you can make out if you squint at the cover graphic, and another nice block of comics.

Otherwise -

THIS WEEK IN COMICS!

Aya: This one looks pretty good. It’s from neophyte comics writer Marguerite Abouet and children’s book artist Clément Oubrerie, and it won Best First Album at Angoulême in 2006. A breezy-looking comedy set in the affluent heyday of the Ivory Coast in the late ‘70s, where writer Abouet grew up. A sequel has already been released in French. Here’s D&Q’s English preview, but there’s a ton more art samples in French on Oubrerie’s own site.

D’Airain Aventure #1: And spinning around 180 degrees, it's the new Ashley Wood showcase series from IDW, a deluxe no-ads 32-page bonanza (with flaps, gotta have the flaps), featuring new characters mixing with personalities from other Wood projects (like Popbot) in a series of overlapping tales and vignettes. Also featuring writing by regular Wood collaborator T.P. Louise and IDW editor-in-chief Chris Ryall.

Cold Heat #3 (of 12): Like I said above, I’m not working off of Diamond’s official list so I’m not 100% sure this new issue of Ben Jones’ and Frank Santoro’s pulsing street fantasy series is actually going to show up everywhere, but certainly someone’s getting some PictureBox releases in.

1-800-MICE #1: Also from PictureBox, the first issue of Matthew Thurber’s new solo series, which I'm looking forward to. PictureBox is also debuting Utility Notebook, which I think is actually a piece of 'found' work by an anonymous funny comics artist.

One Eye: This isn’t really a comic, but it is the new project from Charles Burns of Black Hole, so a bunch of you will probably be interested. It’s a book of digital photography (anyone remember Warren Ellis’ Available Light?), juxtaposing two images per page to draw out sinister or relaxing undercurrents from the whole. From Drawn & Quarterly, part of their Petits Livres line of art books, 144 pages for $14.95. Here’s a preview, to give you a taste of how it is.

Love Roma Vol. 5: Another volume of this cute manga, another of a million I've fallen behind on. One day...

John Woo’s 7 Brothers #5 (of 5): Yeah, this is the last issue. I had absolutely no idea until I saw it mentioned in ads in other Virgin Comics. Incidentally, Dave Stewart’s Walk-In is actually fairly interesting - kind of an archetypical Vertigo title that happens to be better than a lot of the new stuff that Vertigo is putting out at the moment, about a lost British youth blacking out around Eastern Europe, developing odd mental powers, glimpsing weird alternate dimensions, and having his body inhabited by strange forces. Some solid scripting by Jeff Parker. This Garth Ennis-written thing, on the other hand, was sort of boring at first, but it's picked up a bit in recent issues.

Eternals #7 (of 7): Speaking of ending, I'm a little curious to see where Neil Gaiman decides to go with this sudden extension of this continuity-shuffling thing.

Wisdom #3 (of 6): This has really been a pleasant surprise of a series so far, although this issue sees changes, as penciller Manuel Garcia takes over for Trevor Hairsine, perhaps quickening up the release schedule. Wisdom and company, aided by Shang-Chi (Master of Kung-Fu), travel to Wales, where a (literal) dragon has taken control of the local mob.

52 #43 (of 52): More Animal Man, I think, still approaching the end.